martin



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 O. MARTIN. GUN MOUNTING.

No. 601,154. Patented Mar. 22,1898.

F|G.I.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. MARTIN. GUN MOUNTING (No Model.)

Patented Mar. 22, 1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

CARL MARTIN, OF MAGDEBURG-BUOKAU, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO THE FRIED. KRUPP GRUSONVVERK, OF SAME PLACE.

GUN-MOUNTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601 ,154, dated March22, 1898.

Application filed June 50,1892. Serial No. 438,575. (No model.) Patentedin Germany January 28, 1892, No. 65,553; in Belgium March 17,1892,No.98,837; in France March 22, 1892,11'0. 220,323; in Switzerland May 7,1892, No. 5,088; in England May 11, 1892, No- 8,954; in Sweden May 21,1892, No. 4,234; in Spain June 11, 1892, No. 13,325; in Italy June 30,1892, XXVI, 32,029; in Austria-Hungary June 21, 1893, No. 43/1839 andNo.27/1,877,a11din Denmark Tune 25,

1893JNO: 127.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL MARTIN, a subject of the Emperor of Germany,and a resident of Magdeburg-Buckau, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gu n-Mountings,(for which I have obtained Letters Patent in other countries, asfollows: Germany, January 28,1892, No. 65,553; Belgium, March 17, 1892,No. 98,837; France, March 22, 1892, No. 220,323; Switzerland, May 7,1892, No. 5,088; England, May 11, 1892, No. 8,954; Sweden, May 21, 1892,No. 4,234; Spain, June 11, 1892, No. 18,325; Italy, June 30, 1892, XXVI,

I5 No. 32,029; Austria-Hungary, June 21, 1893,

No. 43/1839 and No. 27/1,877, and Donmark, June 25, 1898, No. 127,) ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rotatable cupolas, turrets, orother rotatable mountings for ordnance.

The object of my said invention is to increase the stability ofarmor-plated pivotal turrets or cupolas or other rotatable mount- 2 5'ings of the kind in which the training of the gun is effected byturniugthe mounting upon a central pivot without diminishing the easy mobilityby which mountings of this class are distinguished from those arrangedto move 30 upon a roller-path.

According to this invention I use in lieu of the single central pivotheretofore employed two such pivots, each of which has its separatefunction.

3 5 In certain arrangements hitherto employed the turning movement of acupola or turret, for example, took place upon a flat bearing fixed tothe armored dome, which enabled the said dome to tilt upon the same soas to bear against the glacis when the gun was fired and to assumedirectly afterward an upright position upon the said bearing after theabsorption of the recoil. This arrangement rendered the successfuldesign of the turret or cupola a matter of considerable difficulty, for

the center of gravity of the system had to be vertically above thepivot. Moreover, for a gun of greatvweight a pivot of a very largediameter was necessitated, whereby the friction during the turning ofthe dome became 5o considerable, so that the system would have noadvantage over a mounting provided with a roller-path. This defect isobviated by the present invention, inasmuch as it distributes thefunctions of tilting and turning between two pivots.

In order that my said invention may be clearly understood, I will nowproceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure I is a vertical central section of animproved cupola constructed according to my invention, including adetail plan view of the toothed wheel and pinion. Fig. II is a verticalcentral section of an alternative form of cupola also constructedaccording to my invention. Fig. III is an elevation at right angles toFig. II of the brake mechanism shown in that figure. Fig. IV is avertical central section of an alternative form of the tilting- 7o pivotshown in Fig. II. Fig. V is a plan view of a portion of Fig. IV and ishereinafter more particularly described.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures. In Fig. I the column A rests at its lower end upon one arm ofthe lever B, from the other arm of which the counterweights C aresuspended.

D is the armor-dome, which when the coun- 8o terweight is in its highestposition bears upon the glacis E, whereas when the said counterweightoccupies its lowest position, as shown in the drawings, the dome risesfrom the glacis and the cmbrasure F is revealed, so 8 5 that the gun Gcan be run out.

H is a hand-wheel, which by means of bevelwheels H and a vertical shaftJ and the pinion J, secured to the lower end of the said shaft, hasworking connection with atoothed wheel L, secured to the upper end ofthe column A, which is so arranged that it cannot turn.

M is a pivot, the base 0 of which in the present example is circular,but whichmay be of any other suitable shape, and is of considerablygreater diameter than the body M. The said base is supported upon thehead of the column A and prevented from turning by the feather P, whichenters a recess in the base 0 of the pivot M, and a similar recess inthe head of the column A. When the gun is fired, the cupola tilts uponthe rearedge a of the base 0, and the latter rises a little from thefeather P, but is compelled by gravity when the gun-carriage assumes theupright position to move the said mounting back again exactly to itsformer position. If the cupolais struck by a projectile, it tilts in asimilar manner.

The rotation of the cupola takes place upon the upper plane surface ofthe pivot M. The said pivot prior to the firing is rigidlylocked to therotary portion K of the turret and the dome D by means of a brake-leverN, carried by the turret and operating a suitable brake, which bearsupon the pin M.

In Fig. II, to which, with Figs. III, IV, and V, reference will now bemade, a cupola is shown in which the embrasure is always uncovered, andaccordingly the dome D need only be raised when the gun isto betraversed, and then only to such an extent that its beveled edge will nolonger touch the glacis E. In this example when the gun is fired'or whena shot hits the cupola the'part K of the carriage tilts around the edgeof the pivot M, and the feather P insures its return movement to itsoriginal position. The turning-pivot M is at the lower end of the columnA, which in this case is arranged to rotate and turns in the footstep b.The raising and lowering of the gun-carriage and dome is effected byraising and lowering the pivot O, which for this purpose isscrew-threaded to engage with the upper end of the. spindle A, whichalso is screw-threaded, as shown.

Q is a cone, the upper end of which carries a disk Q.

R is a brake-band, the ends of which are connected bya spindleN,provided with righthand and left-hand threads and with a lever N.Between the said ends of the band R the forked end of an arm S,extending from the pivot M, embraces loosely the spindle N in such amanner that the said arm may slip ver- ,tically over the spindle whenthe pivot M is raised or lowered. The brake is applied to grip the saiddisk by turning the lever N. The rotary column A is provided with abevelwheel L, which can be turned by the handwheel H by means ofintermediary shafting and toothed wheels.

When the brake-band is tightened, thepivot M may be raised or loweredbut cannot be turned, and when the brake-band is slackened after thedome is sufficiently raised, the pivot may be turned but cannot longerbe raised or lowered, as is hereinafter more fully explained. Thisarrangement permits the operating mechanismto be very much simplifiedand the Workin g of the gungreatly fa: cilitated, as the raising,lowering, and turning of the mounting can all be effected by meansof avery simple operation, which will now be described.

Supposing the brake-bandR is released, if the dome D bears firmly uponthe glacis E, a turning movement of the column A in the direction of thearrow, Fig. II, will not be possible, because the friction between thedome and the glacis is too great to permit the rotation of the carriageK, while the latter in turn prevents by the feather P the turning of thepivot M. This pivot would, however, allow the columnto turn in thedirection of the arrow if the said pivot Mcould descend, which isprevented by the arm S bearing upon the top of the disk Q. If, on theother hand, the column A is turned in the opposite direction by means ofthe hand-Wheel H, the gun-carriage' K is not at first rotated becausethe dome bears upon the glacis, as aforesaid, and therefore the pivot Mis screwedupward by the turning of the column A, but as soon as thepivot M, by lifting the carriage K and the dome D, raises the edge ofthe latter off the glacis the spindle A and the carriage and dome willall turn together. At this moment the turning movement of the hand-wheelH may also be changed, and a turning movement of the gun-carriage to theright may take place. If the dome is required to be lowered again, it isonly necessary to prevent the gun-carriage from rotating by operatingthe brake-lever N and to turn the column A again in the direction of thearrow, Fig. II, by means ofthe hand-wheel H, whereupon the said columnscrews-the pivot M downward until the dome D rests tightly upon theglacis.

The advantages of this arrangement are as follows: One and the samedevice is used for raising and lowering the cupola and traversing thegun, and, further, hitherto in the majority of cases with separatedevices for the raising and lowering and for the turning of the cupola,there was no measure or indication afforded as to how high thearmor-plate cover had to be raised in order to enable rotation of thecupola or turret to be effected, and therefore it was generally raisedtoo high, whereas in the improved arrangement herein described this isnow regulated automatically as set forth. This advantage results fromthe separation of the turning-pivot from the other pivot about which thetilting occurs.

The principal advantages of the use of separate pivots are, ashereinbefore stated, that the pivot about which the tilting occurs maybe made of any desired diameter without diminishing the ease with whichthe cupola, turret, or other mounting may be rotated, and that thegun-carriage is compelled by the feather P, which forms a guide, toreturn each time exactly to its former position. This latter is a veryimportant advantage, as in former armor plated gun carriages with acombined turning and tilting pivot there existed always the tendency toalter the horizontal direction of the gun during firing or during thereturn of the gun to its position of equilibrium.

The hereinbefore-described examples have shown the application of theinvention to cupolas in which the gun has no recoil in the carriage. If,however, it is preferred to allow the gun a slight recoil in thegun-carriage in order to put the material under as little stress aspossible, the application of the invention would be the same, but theamount of the tilting would be diminished.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of thisinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, declare thatwhat I claim is 1. In heavy ordnance the combination substantially asset forth, of the gun, the central turning-pivot upon which the gun ismounted for training, and the separately-located additional rockingbearing upon which the gun tilts when it is fired or a shot hits thecupola, as explained.

2. In heavy ordnance, the combination'of the gun and the verticalcentral support, upon which the gun is mounted, formed with two separatebearings which respectively permit the turning of the gun for trainingand the tilting of the cupola, said tilting-bearing being provided witha guide which insures the return of the gun to the same positionsubstantially as set forth.

3. In heavy ordnance, the combination of the gun, the vertical centralsupport upon which the gun is mounted, provided with a turning-pivot fortraining and a separate rocking bearing, and means for rotating thegun,working connections with said means for effecting the raising orlowering as well as the training substantially as set forth.

at. In heavy ordnance, a mounting in combination with aturning-pivotarranged to turn in a bearing and upon which the mounting rests andadapted to rock, and a feather P interposed between the mounting and itspivot and embedded in said parts so as to prevent relative turning whilepermitting the rocking movement as explained.

5. In heavy ordnance, the combination of the gum-the central verticalsupport upon which the gun is mounted, formed with the training-bearingand the tilting-bearing, the brake, for locking the fixed and rotatableparts of the support against relative movement, said brake being carriedby one of said parts and having a controlling-lever for forcing it intocontact with the other, and means for moving the gun on itstraining-bearing, all substantially as set forth.

6. In heavy ordnance, the combination of the cupola, the gun, thecentral vertical support for the cupola and gun formed in two partsscrew-threaded together and also with a training-bearing and atilting-bearing, the means for rotating the gun on its trainingbearingand the brake for locking one of the screw-threaded parts, while theother rotates in order to change the length of the central support andraise or lower the cupola, all substantially as set forth.

7. In a gun-mounting the combination of the glacis, the cupola formed toseat upon the glacis, the gun beneath the cupola, the central verticalsupport for the gun and cupola, formed in two parts, scre w-threadedtogether, and with a training bearing, and means substantially asdescribed for rotating the lower part of the central support in eitherdirection, as and for the purpose explained.

8. In a gun-mounting, the combination of the gun, the central verticalsupport, upon which the gun is mounted, formed in two parts andscrew-threaded together, and having a turning-bearing on the lower part,the

' driving connection for rotating the lower part,

the arm on the upper part provided with a brake and the fixed part ofthe structure co operating with the brake, all substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

9. In a gun-mounting the combination 0 the glacis, the cupolaconstructed to seat on the glacis, the gun and the central verticalsupport carrying the gun and adapted to lift the cupola; said supportbeing formed in two parts screw-threaded together, of which the upperone is formed with a rocking, bearing for the gun and a brake forcontrolling rotary movement, and the lower one is formed with a rotatingor training bearing and means for rotating the said lower part; allsubstantially as set forth and for the purpose specified.

10. In a gun-mounting, the combination of the central vertical support,formed in two parts screw threaded together, a rotating bearing androtating connections for the lower part, a bearing for the upper partprovided with a surrounding disk, an arm on said upper part, aband-brake surrounding the disk and connected with said arm and acontrolling-lever for regulating the tension on said band-brake, allsubstantially as and for the purpose set forth.

CARL MARTIN.

Witnesses:

HERMANN LUBOWSKI, EMIL KALLNOOKER.

